Fishing Report: Nov. 9, 2011

COASTWIDE - The near-shore Pacific halibut fishery is over for the year along the Oregon Coast.

A small-craft advisory remains in effect through tonight, followed by a weekend of 15-knot winds and marginal seas that likely will keep most of the recreational fleet at bay.

The ocean is now off-limits to sport crabbing through November. Sport and commercial crabbing are set to resume in the ocean Dec. 1. Dungeness crab catches have been good in bays statewide, with boaters faring better than dock crabbers.

The largest minus tide sequence of the fall comes in the upcoming week, with some excellent afternoon clamming tides.

The marine aggregate limit in Oregon is seven rockfish a day, and no cabezon may be kept for the rest of 2012. The lingcod limit is two a day with a 22-inch minimum, and that is separate from the marine aggregate.

GOLD BEACH - Rain and cooler weather have caused most of the coho and chinook to move upstream, and it's turned the bay fishery off. A few Indian Creek fish remain near the creek mouth. Wild chinook may be kept but not wild coho. Anchovies with chartreuse spinner blades have been best. A few Indian Creek chinook remain in the mix.

BROOKINGS - Bay effort has slowed now that the main river upstream of river mile 2.2 is open and is fishing very well for fall chinook.

AGATE - Trout fishing effort has slowed dramatically amid cold and windy weather. Some of October's stocking of 1,000 legal-sized and 100 larger rainbow trout are still available. Catching will be best still-fishing with worms or PowerBait. The lake is holding firm at 23 percent full. Fish spinner baits or plastic worms for bass during the middle of the day. No gas motors are allowed. Small electric motors are legal. The lake is open year-round.

APPLEGATE - The lake was infused in October with 1,000 legals and 200 larger rainbow trout, and fishing has been good on them in the French Gulch area. Trolling Wedding Rings or Triple Teasers with a piece of worm is working well. PowerBait or wind-drifting worms also are good bets. The lake is down to 82 feet from full. The Copper ramp is no longer usable and Hart-Tish Park is closed.

EMIGRANT - Fish are more concentrated with the low water levels. Smallmouth bass fishing is best off rocky banks, and a few largemouth have been taken in the willows. The lake is holding steady at 24 percent full. The lake is open year-round.

A standing public-health advisory continues about eating all but trout from the lake because of elevated mercury levels.

HOWARD PRAIRIE - The lake is closed for the season.

HYATT -The lake is closed for the season.

DIAMOND - The season closed Nov. 1, but the lake will reopen Jan. 1 under new rules that make the lake a year-round fishery.

EXPO - Fishing and interest have picked up dramatically with the recent stocking of 500 legal-sized and 100 larger trout. Catching them on worms under bobbers or small Panther Martin lures has been best. The limit is five trout per day with only one over 20 inches. The pond is open year-round.

LOST CREEK - A voluntary advisory against water contact at the lake has kept most anglers away. Those who are there are encouraged to practice catch-and-release fishing until the blue-green algae advisory is lifted. The lake was up to more than a foot above minimum pool this week after recent rains.

FISH - Trolling for trout was very good this past week with Triple Teasers or other lures spiked with a piece of worm. Lots of big rainbows in the mix, as well as legal-sized chinook. For bank anglers, chartreuse PowerBait is working well near the resort and Forest Service boat ramp. Good water clarity was reported this week. The lake is open year-round. It was listed Thursday at 42 percent full, up a bit because of recent rains. The lake is open year-round.

LAKE of the WOODS - Fishing for rainbow and brown trout has been fair near the resort. PowerBait has been the top choice. The lake is open year-round.

LEMOLO - The lake is closed for the season.

ROGUE - The upper Rogue has slowed for late-run summer steelhead after a solid but not spectacular week of bait and plug fishing beginning with the Nov. 1 change of the flies-only season. The middle Rogue has been good for summer steelhead for those side-drifting roe or worms, with fly-fishing decent until recent rains swelled the river a bit. The Agness area has been hot for summer steelhead and halfpounders, while the lower Rogue bay has slowed dramatically for coho and chinook.

That makes the upper Rogue the best bet, with what works best dependant largely on where you go.

Bait fishing opened Nov. 1 from Cole Rivers Hatchery to the boat ramp at Shady Cove Park. Small roe clusters, worms and plugs have all worked well for summers. Many anglers will favor small yarn flies soaked in roe juice, which is legal, and it's a good offering because it doesn't require rebaiting hooks. Steelhead in the low 30-inch class have been caught in the region. A fair number of cutthroat trout are also in the mix focusing on eggs, and they must all be released unharmed.

Downstream of the Shady Cove ramp, the water is open to artificial flies and lures. Scented yarn flies side-drifted from boats or the bank are the main choice. For driftboaters, K-11 Kwikfish and crayfish plugs are working well. Catches have dropped off in the past week, which is typical after the initial flurry of fishing interest Nov. 1.

In the upper Rogue, flows dropped today out of Lost Creek Lake to 1,100 cubic feet per second.

The entire upper Rogue is closed to chinook fishing. It is illegal to target spawning chinook even for catch-and-release fishing in the upper Rogue.

In the middle Rogue, driftboat fishing for summer steelhead has been decent, with anglers targeting wild summers feasting on eggs. Most of the steelhead present in the middle Rogue are wild and must be released unharmed. The stretch from Valley of the Rogue State Park through the former Savage Rapids Dam site has good spawning gravels and good numbers of summer steelhead and cutthroat, and virtually everything caught there must be released.

In the Agness area, a mix of chinook, coho, adult summer steelhead and halfpounders are present and available, but fishing pressure has been light.

Only fin-clipped halfpounders, fin-clipped cohos and fin-clipped adult summer steelhead can be kept, but the stretch is open to retention of wild fall chinook. Any steelhead under 16 inches long is considered a halfpounder.

In the bay, a few straggler fall chinook heading to the Indian Creek Hatchery remain in the bay, with little interest in them.

All wild steelhead must be released unharmed riverwide.

CHETCO - The river was low and clear Thursday but set to rise through Saturday and crest, making for another round of excellent fall chinook fishing Sunday or as early as Saturday afternoon. The river has been a hotbed for fall chinook fishing when the conditions have been good, with double-digit hookup days common among guided driftboat trips. For the immediate future, fish K-15 Kwikfish in migration lanes to hit big chinook on the move. Bank anglers are tossing combinations of roe and corkies and yarn. Fishing was slow in the estuary.

UMPQUA - Coho and chinook catches are starting to diminish in the mainstem river, and the wild coho season on the mainstem remains open. Bass fishing in the Elkton area has slowed now that cool air and water temperatures have returned. The North Umpqua is fair for summer steelhead, and chinook fishing is banned in the North Umpqua. The South Umpqua is closed to all angling through November.

COOS - Chinook salmon fishing is all but over, with only a few anglers giving late-run chinook and coho a shot. Coho fishing is open from the jetties up to the Dellwood Trap, with anchovies or pink Rooster Tail lures best. The wild coho fishery remains open.

ELK - Fishing was good in the estuary this week as fresh fall chinook moved in. It's a bank-anglers' show. Some fly-fishers are faring well with chartreuse streamers, while spin-casters are swimming anchovies midway through the water column. Fresh fall chinook already are spread throughout the system, but conditions remain low and clear. Today's rains will take care of that, and fishing could be very good this weekend if good water clarity holds.